Adjust the brightness of your backlit keyboard

Learn whether your Apple notebook computer has a backlit keyboard and how to adjust its brightness automatically or manually.

Find out if your notebook has a backlit keyboard

From the Apple () menu, choose System Preferences and then click on Keyboard. If the Keyboard preferences window has an "Adjust keyboard brightness in low light" checkbox, you have a backlit keyboard.

Adjust your keyboard brightness automatically or manually

You can have the keyboard brightness adjust automatically based on available light, or you can adjust it manually.

Adjust the brightness automatically

To set your keyboard brightness to adjust automatically:

From the Apple menu, choose System Preferences and then click on Keyboard.

Select the "Adjust keyboard brightness in low light" checkbox.

Adjust the brightness manually

To make the keyboard brighter, press F6 on your notebook's built-in keyboard. To make it less bright, press F5.

If you can't adjust your keyboard's brightness manually, it's likely because you're in a very bright environment and you have your Mac set to automatically adjust the brightness. In this case, the backlit keyboard turns off. When you move to a location with less light, you can once again adjust the keyboard's brightness.

Adjust brightness on your MacBook Pro with Touch Bar

If you're using a 2016 MacBook Pro, you can quickly adjust your keyboard brightness by tapping in the Control Strip:

The Control Strip expands, and you can tap to adjust keyboard brightness: